Crime and Punishment
by The Werewolf Mage
Summary: The Marauders have accidentally set fire to a very rare and valuable tapestry while doing an innocent prank. Can they convince Dumbledore to go easy on them? With each Marauder having a different story, I don't see how.
1. The Crime

Title: Crime and Punishment

Summary: The Marauders have accidentally set fire to a very rare and valuable tapestry while doing an innocent prank. Can they convince Dumbledore to go easy on them? With each Marauder having a different story, I don't see how.

A/n M'kay, let me explain how this is going to work. Chapter one shall be the crime itself. Chapters two, three, four, and five shall be each Marauder's separate story of how this crime came to be. Chapter six shall be their punishment. If this winds up to be shorter than you hoped, I'm sorry.

Chapter 1: The Crime is Committed

"I can't believe you talked me into doing this." Remus sighed. "It's so stupid. In fact, I'm tempted to head back to the Common Room right now."

"But, Moony, we need a fourthsie!" Sirius whined. The four of them were heading down a barely-used hall in search of their favorite Slytherin. Sirius was holding the Marauders Map and James was holding a candle, which, they decided, was quicker to snuff out than a wand. Plus, it made less light, which was good in the sense it would be harder to see them. Bad in the sense that they could hardly see where they were going.

As it turns out, they were further away from the Slytherin Common Room than they expected, even with the Map.

Down yet another flight of stairs they went, cursing their foul luck. Usually, they'd've met with a ghost or someone by now. They hadn't seen a single soul, living or otherwise, in about five minutes. Not even portraits were down this hall.

At the end of the stairs, the four paused. This was an unexplored area of the castle, and a perfect chance to map it.

"Wow, nice tapestry. Wonder why it isn't where the school can see it?" Sirius asked as he sat on the floor to map this hall.

"Maybe Dumbledore's afraid of whatever kind of mischief we could do that it." James said with a smirk.

"Yeah." Peter agreed.

The candle was slowly melting away as Sirius continued to map. The others were growing tired and sleepy. Not to mention they were beginning to feel the need to take a bathroom break. They'd been up for hours. The three not working yawned, stretched, and pretty much did anything to keep themselves awake. Then, in a crowded jumble of yawning, it happened.

Sirius stood back to admire his work. He backed into one of the boys, who hit James and sent the candle flying into the old tapestry. It burst into the flames. The boys stared, shocked. They did not hear McGonagall's screams of rage, nor Filch's howls of anger and sorrow for the tapestry. The only thing they knew was that they were done for.

Hanging their heads in shame, they marched single file to Dumbledore's office and awaited his sentence.

Once he heard what McGonagall had seen, he frowned. "You know, the reason that old tapestry was away from the rest of the school was because I feared something like this would happen."

Instead of looking sorry, the four shouted their take on what happened. Dumbledore shouted for quiet. "I'll let each of you have a turn to tell me what happened, then, I shall decide on a proper punishment."

A/n

Ooh, they gonna get it. Anyone have a preference on who's first? If not, I'll go in random order.


	2. Remus's Explanation

Crime And Punishment

A/n I got the request for Remus, first. So, he'll be first, then Peter, James, and Sirius.

Chapter 2: Remus's Explanation

"Remus, please. You can be first."

"Thank you, sir." Remus said, looking at his feet. He was nervous and frightened as to what kind of horrible punishment the Headmaster could come up with. But, then again, he had his friends to stick by.

"You see, sir, I didn't want to be out of the Common Room so late, seeing as it is against the rules."

"Arse kisser." Sirius muttered, causing James to snicker.

Remus glowered. "These three were going to pull a prank and I went along to try to stop them."

"No, you didn't! It was your idea!" Peter interjected.

"Mister Pettigrew, you'll have your chance. Please continue."

"Well, we got lost, to be blunt. These three were goofing off with candles and knocked one into the tapestry."

"No, we didn't! You ran into James and made him drop the candle. It's YOUR fault!"

"Yours!"

"I had nothing to do with this!"

The fourGryffindors began to bicker amongst themselves again. When it looked like they were about to pull out their wands,Dumbledore hushed them with a glare. "If you'll all remember what I said, you shall each get a chance to speak. Mister Lupin, is there anything else you'd like to add?"

Remus thought. "No, sir. I don't think there is."

"Very well. Who shall be next?"

Peter cleared his throat. "If I may?"

"Certainly."Dumbledore said, giving Peter his attention.

A/n

You know, I didn't mean for this to be funny, but I might make one of the boys have a wacky, unexplainable story.


	3. Peter Speaks

Crime and Punishment

A/n Wow, haven't really given this much thought in a while, so, instead of updating something else, let's have Peter's account, shall we?

Chapter 3: Peter Speaks

Peter shuffled his feet nervously, but, then, started spinning his yarn, so to speak. "Well, Headmaster, my good friend, Remus, here, is a liar." Remus glared at him, afronted, as Peter continued.

"We were heading down to the kitchens for a late night snack, when, I, Peter Pettigrew, noticed we had taken a wrong turn. So, naturally, I tried to get my good friends to turn around and head back, before we got caught."

Sirius scoffed. If anything, Peter was the one usually egging them on. Plus, he was none-too-happy to be going last.

Peter ignored him. "We found ourselves in this hall we had never seen before. I pleaded with the others to go back before someone caught us. But, Sirius and James had other plans." he sighed.

Dumbledore raised an eyebrow and glanced at the other three, who were trying not to laugh. It was obvious to Dumbledore that this wasn't what happened, but, amused, he asked Peter to continue.

"So, Sirius pulled out a couple of fireworks from his pocket and James lit them, and they threw them at the tapestry." Peter finished, a bit lamely.

"Really, now?" Dumbledore asked, smiling slightly.

Peter looked at his feet once more. "No, sir. But it is Sirius's fault!"

The four boys started to bicker once more. Dumbledore groaned. This was going to take awhile.

A/n

I think was a pretty funny chapter, in a Peter-wants-so-desperately-to-fit-in kind of way. Oh, dear. I just remembered. Whatever shall happen to the Map?


	4. James's Turn

Crime and Punishment

A/n Ugh, I was going to update something else, but, I just can't wait to do Sirius's chapter! But first, we gotta get James out of the way.

Chapter 4: James's Turn

Dumbledore turned his attention to James. "Mister Potter, please, enlighten me."

"Um... we weren't there. Yeah, that's it. We weren't there. The tapestry must've combusted on its own." James smiled.

Dumbledore frowned. "Mister Potter, you, and the other three, were found in front of the tapestry. Don't try to fool me like that."

James sighed. "OK, OK! It's Peter's fault!"

Peter blinked. "Nu-uh!"

"You know you did it, Peter! Stop lying to the headmaster like that! Lying is bad, Peter!" James shouted, trying his hardest not to laugh.

Peter stared, trying to hold his giggles in, too. "I'm not lying, James. You're the ones who's lying!"

Now, Peter and James were in an argument with Sirius and Remus snickering. Even Dumbledore couldn't help smile. "Mister Black, please. Tell me, in your words, what happened."

Sirius bounced happilly on the balls of his feet, ready for his chance.

A/n

Oooh, I can't wait to do it! But, I suppose I can.


	5. Sirius Finally Gets a Chance

Crime and Punishment.

A/n I couldn't wait. I just had to do it while the idea is fresh in my head.

Chapter 5: Sirius Finally Gets a Chance

"You may start anytime you wish, Mister Black." Dumbledore said.

Sirius took this to mean Dumbledore meant he could start at any time in his life, so, he flopped onto Dumbledore's desk and treated Dumbledore like one would a Muggle psychiatrist.

"Well, last week I went out on a date with this pretty little Hufflepuff. Turns out, she only wanted to date me for show. So, I took my anger out on Filch's new cat. I kicked it down the hall and changed its color to pink with orange spots and green stripes."

Dumbledore looked bemused. Sirius was finally admitting to some of the things he had gotten away with. But this was not the story he wanted.

Sirius was still rambling on, despite the fact that no one was paying him any attention. "So, then, I said --- "

"Mister Black, this really is quite, er, interesting. But, please. The tapestry?"

"Oh, right. Sorry, sir. We were going to try to find, um, Flitwick, yeah, that'll work. We were going to try to find him so he could explain our Charms homework to us. But, thanks to Remus, we took a wrong turn and got lost."

"Thanks to me?"

"Yes. You felt a sudden urge to break a few rules. So, it was REMUS who set the tapestry on fire. And James used Peter to try to put it out. So, please. Don't punish me. Punish them!"

Dumbledore's eyes glittered as he picked their punishments...

A/n

Aha! I'm master of the cliffies today, aren't I:)

Oh, and you'll find out what happens to the map next chapter.


	6. The Punishments

Crime and Punishment

A/n Ah, the final chapter. Time to enjoy their punishments.

Chapter 6: The Punishments

Dumbledore laid it on heavy. He split them up into four seperate punishments. And, worst of all, the Marauders map was confiscated.

James, some would argue, got the easiest detention. He had to polish the trophies in the trophy case, without magic, of course. Though, he got quite bored and earned himself more detention by skating around the floor on his sponges.

Sirius got a different sort of detention. He had to polish the suits of armor, and Peeves was not helping things. "Peeves, you bloody annoyance!" Sirius shouted as Peeves stole the rag he was using.

"MISTER BLACK, YOU ARE NOT SUPPOSED TO BE GOOFING OFF!"

"Sorry, Professor."

Peter got the joy of scrubbing the bedpans in the hospital wing. No magic. And he was not too happy about it. "Why would anyone needs to scrub bedpans, without magic? I mean, really!" he huffed as Madame Pomfrey passed by, surpressing a snicker.

Remus got stuck with the task of scrubbing the Great Hall. And, he suspected that the Slytherins had started a food fight just to irk him. No matter. He was a bit pleased to have been seperated, seeing as how he could finish without about a month's worth of extra detentions.

At the end of the day, the boys, tired, sore, and reeking of cleaning products, they learned they had one last thing to do. Pay for the tapestry. Needless to say, that cut drastically into their end-of-year party fund.

A/n

Ah, poor guys. Maybe they'll learn. And maybe not.


End file.
